Battle Over Wiretaps and Cell Phone Privacy

ByABC News
August 17, 2000, 10:33 AM

Aug. 17 -- Whats the future of police telephone wiretaps in the age of wireless communication?

As technology changes, law enforcement officials and privacy advocates are battling over how far authorities can go to monitor suspects calls.

Last year, a group of privacy advocacy organizations joinedwith cell phone industry groups to file suit to keep digital data under the extremely strict wiretap rules that apply to voice communications.

On Tuesday, they won the current round of the battle, when a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel ruling largely sided with them and against the government, citing cost effectiveness and privacy concerns. The Justice Department is hoping to reverse that decision by providing the court more detailed information and real-life examples.

At her weekly news conference today, Attorney General Janet Reno said she hadnt yet reviewed the courts decision.

Foiled by Call Forwarding

Law enforcement officials say that in the digital age, common technologysuch as call forwarding, conference calling, call waiting, paging services,credit card calls and so on are making the plain old telephone wiretap allbut useless.

That standard wiretap, which requires a court order from a judge, allowsofficials to monitor only the number called, not any of the content of theconversation. But simple tricks like forwarding a call can make theparticular telephone number dialed meaningless.

If we think theyre calling a number in New York City, and theyre callforwarding it to Bogota, its a very big problem for us, says PeterModafferi, chief of detectives with the District Attorneys office inRockland County, New York, and a spokesman for the International Associationof Chiefs of Police.

Because of problems like that, the FBI and Justice Department have beenpushing to have access to all digital information every number dialed by acaller, but not the voice conversation included under the standard wiretapissued by judges.